Canaries step in to cook turkey dinner for 450
Rob Butler/BBCChefs at a city football club have saved the day by offering to cook enough turkey for 450 people this Christmas.
Norwich City, known as the Canaries, has come to the rescue of charity Norwich Open Christmas, which is moving to another building this year while its usual venue, St Andrew's Hall, is refurbished.
The charity, which helps people experiencing homelessness or affected by loneliness, has been providing a free Christmas dinner for 35 years.
Chef Jon Batchelor said: "Norwich City FC is the heart of the community. We want to help as many people as we can; people are being pushed into poverty in this day and age."
The festive celebration will be at The King's Centre in Norwich from 11:00 GMT to 17:00.
Mr Batchelor said there will be a brigade of people preparing the food in advance ready for it to be cooked on site on Christmas Day.
He said that "anything we can do as a community club, like Norwich City, we will".
"We've got chefs who have been working here for 20 years... we jumped at the chance to be able to support this."
Bill Ashton, chair of trustees at Norwich Open Christmas, called the team "stars".
He said: "A huge thanks to Jon and his team. We had some issues about how we would get it cooked and the guys there stepped in.
"Like everybody else, times are hard. The people of Norfolk and Norwich have always been incredibly generous."
Over three days, he said, there will be about 300 volunteers.
Alongside the 170 turkey fillets, there will also be volunteers peeling up to 80kg (175lb) of sprouts and 100kg (220lb) of potatoes.
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